U.S. Accuses Whole Foods of Banning Black Lives Matter Masks

Amazon.com Inc.’s Whole Foods Market illegally banned employees from wearing “Black Lives Matter” masks and punished workers who did, U.S. labor board prosecutors alleged.

The grocery store chain maintained appearance rules at U.S. locations to prohibit staff from displaying Black Lives Matter messages on their apparel, the National Labor Relations Board’s San Francisco regional director wrote in a complaint issued Friday on behalf of the agency’s general counsel. The filing also accuses the company of firing, sending home and otherwise punishing employees around the country during 2020 for wearing apparel such as BLM masks or pins.

A demonstrator outside Whole Foods Market in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., on July 18.

Photographer: Erin Clark/Boston Globe/Getty Images

“Our dress ...